Abe’s Trail Trek

After years of planning by site superintendent Tim Guinan and local trail runners, on November 17th, the inaugural Abe’s Trail Trek will take place at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site. Are you ready to run and explore the trails of New Salem? This event has something for everyone; a 5K fun run/walk beginning at 9:30 & two challeging run distances of 10K & 15K starting at 10:00 All events begin at the Cardinal Ridge trailhead and are mainly rolling, doubletrack trails through the woods and along the Sangamon river. The 10 &15k course will take you through the 1800’s pioneer village Mr. Lincoln called home. All participants will finish at the Pioneer Camp Center where a roaring fire, hot drinks & chili will be waiting. All entrants receive a long sleeve custom shirt & on-course support. The 10 &15k participants are also eligible for unique & functional awards.
Courses are color coded and clearly marked; groups are meeting after work on Thursdays to practice running the course. Go to abestriseries.com to register and for more information.
Course maps will be on the site this week and ribbons mark the courses for those soles wanting to go trail trek on their own.
High visibility yellow ribbons mark the 5k course, orange marks the 10k course and pink marks the 15k course. Parking is at the restaurant lot on the east side of Rt. 97.
Organizers expect a big turnout since the races have been promoted extensively by other trail running clubs across Illinois and Missouri and most importantly by the Kennekuk Running Club which is the largest trail running club in North America and its president has stated he will be at the events. He also provided a national listing to all states in North America since Steve and Carol O’Connor are Kennekuk members and just raced last weekend at their Wild, Wild Wilderness trail run at Kickapoo State Park.
Discussions with the Kennekuk president led organizers to choose November 17 th as race race day since most other parks in Illinois allow deer hunting during November and leave runners few choices for trail runs. Since Abe’s Trail Trek occurs on the second day of shotgun season in Illinois, in a state historic site, there is no hunting allowed. So no blaze orange required, only blazing speed.
Register early by mail or on line since space is limited. Proceeds will be used to maintain and improve the trails in the site. Come see a side of New Salem few ever get to see or even new existed.